


One Winter's Night

by Merlocked18



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Art, Christmas, M/M, Traditional Art, Winter, art fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-12
Updated: 2016-12-12
Packaged: 2018-09-02 20:31:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,330
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8682364
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Merlocked18/pseuds/Merlocked18
Summary: Arthur gets caught in a fierce winter storm.





	

 

 ****

 

This was the end of his journey. He could feel the cold seeping into his bones. He could barely move his fingers now. Odd how parts of your own body could feel so foreign to you.

How could he have been so stupid not to bring appropriate clothing, a winter cloak at least? What had made him go on a one-man mission into a blustery night, on a horse he barely knew? He'd been wandering all night, and morning did nothing to help his predicament. 

He knew better than this. 

And, yet, here he was, barely able to breathe, his broken foot begging for reprieve, his whole body begging him to just stop and give up the fight already. His heart was slowing its beat. His body was shutting down.

“Damned skittish mare…”

He wouldn’t make it back to Camelot like this. He would die out here in the onslaught of the relentless, northerly blizzard. He would not return. He had failed his people. Utterly.

“Blasted…”

Where was his beloved citadel? In what direction? His eyes were stinging, battered by sharp and frozen projectiles of ice. He was completely lost. His people would have to mourn the loss of their newly anointed king, his enemies would laugh at his failure to navigate his own territory. How could a skilled tracker and warrior not manage to stay on his horse or survive a simple winter storm?

But none of that really mattered, did it, not when there was one person whose reaction he dared not even contemplate.

“Merlin, “ he sobbed the name with a last effort to be heard and fell into the drift, exhausted beyond reason, grieving.

“I am sorry,” he croaked, taking solace in the softness of the snow, knowing its biting cold would be his undoing.

“Merlin, my love, I am sorry…” Arthur didn't know if Merlin would be able to handle his death rationally. Merlin would do something stupid, wouldn't he? Arthur sobbed. The mere inkling of a thought that Merlin would harm himself in his grief was just too much to bear.

His Merlin.

"I'll never see you again..."

The thought of Merlin's beautiful, angelic face stabbed Arthur right through his soul for Merlin was his soul mate.

"Please, live for me, Merl...." 

“Arthur!”

The end was almost upon him, he could even imagine Merlin’s beloved voice, calling out his name.

“Clotpole!”

Arthur had always pretended to hate Merlin calling him names. To him those silly names had always been endearments. What a pity they would never banter again. Or hold each other. Or  kiss each other. He would never again be able to just drink in the sight of Merlin sleeping in their shared bed.

 

 ****

Merlin always looked so young in repose, so fragile. Arthur curled into a ball and waited for the complete stillness of the beyond. He would so terribly miss the feel of Merlin’s lips to his own.

 

“Wake up, you utter arse! You’re missing out!”

 

How could he hear the voice of his dear one so clearly, even at the doorstep to the veil of death?

 

“Lazy daisy!”

 

The slap to his face feels rather vivid, though.

 

“Oww!”

 

“Get up and have a look at all this snow! It’s beautiful!”

 

“Merlin?”

 

Arthur opens his eyes to a sunlit chamber which is very familiar.

 

“I am back...”

 

“Get up, Arthur. Come look at the courtyard. It’s so beautiful.”

 

Arthur moves his fingers, they are pliant.

 

“How can this be?”

 

Arthur puts his feet on the floor and flexes his toes.

 

“Hah! It was a dream!” He takes a few strides towards the windows, where Merlin is standing.

 

 

“Merlin?”

 

“Yes?”

 

“I think I can see through you.”

 

“Yes.”

 

“Why can I see through you?”

 

“Did you think I’d ever abandon you? Leave you out there on your own like that?”

 

“Merlin?”

 

“Hmm?”

 

“Oh, no. We are…?”

 

“Yes.”

 

Arthur looks at his hands again. He can see through his own hand.

 

 

"So... I died and you... followed me?”

 

“Did you think you could cross the veil without me?” The apparition that is his soulmate turns then and Arthur wants to shake him.

 

“Merlin, no! What have you done?”

 

“Yes. Well, It was nigh impossible, but I am...was not the most powerful sorcerer for nothing. I found a way.”

 

“Sorcerer?”

 

Merlin sighs and walks Arthur back to bed. Arthur can feel Merlin's touch.

 

“Let’s not dwell on that, Arthur. It’s all in the past. We can finally be together. No one else can see us, as far as I figure. Gaius walked right through me a moment ago.”

 

“So, you found me? Out there?”

 

“Yes...how could you do that to me by the way?”

 

“I died thinking about you, Merlin.”

 

“Me too.”

 

“And now we are here, in my chambers, dead, together.”

 

“Yes, and you know what, Arthur, I am dying to kiss you.”

 

“Nice. What if I don’t want to kiss a sorcerer, really, Merlin. A sorcerer!”

 

“So? I am a already a dead man, right? You can’t chop my head off, can you? I mean, what would be the point?”

 

“Come, sorcerer, over my dead body, ...please?”

 

*****

 

Arthur wakes up shivering, it must have been the atrocious puns, or then the fact that he must have forgotten his kitchen window open when he had been cooking tea the previous evening. He pulls his duvet over his head, too tired to do anything about it just now.

In the darkness of his cocoon he reflects on his latest dream.

"Jesus, that was even weirder than the one about a troll and my dad," he states to himself.

"Now I am even talking to myself."

Maybe he ought to go see a shrink about it. Dead dream boyfriends was really rather disturbing.

There is a cheerful knocking on the door. Arthur groans. Who could it be at this hour of the morning? The knocking continues, so he gets up, shuffles to his front door and opens it.

Arthur realises he is standing in only his jammies, staring at the man in the adorable Christmas jumper.

"Do I know you?" he manages, a little thrown by the glorious smile he is accosted by.

“Hi, I thought I’d say hello to the neighbours. I just moved in next door. Here, Happy Christmas. I thought you might be cold.” Seemingly out of nowhere the man produces a bottle of mulled wine and offers it to Arthur.

Arthur takes the offered gift. The moment his hand touches the bottle an electrifying sensation runs up his arm, radiating heat throughout his body

_Merlin!_

The name comes unbidden to Arthur and he yelps, almost dropping the bottle. A thousand images flash before his eyes, of the two of them together. Just like in his strange dreams.

OMG, it's Merlin! Merlin is real!

Merlin, the devil, is smirking at him, cocking his eyebrows then pursing his lips. Oh, how Arthur has missed kissing those lips.

"Well, I'll be over there, if you need me...for anything." Merlin points at his flat.

Arthur nods, clutching the bottle. 

Merlin saunters down the hall to his own door. He turns and winks at Arthur before disappearing into his flat. Arthur can't help but chuckle. Merlin always was a complete tease, and waay to cheerful in the mornings.

Arthur resolutely closes his door. Merlin can open any door he wishes, after all. Arthur proceeds down the hall to Merlin's. The hallway floors are icy on his bare feet, but he knows his Merlin will warm him up soon enough.

Arthur goes to gently knock when the door magically opens. Merlin is standing there, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed.

 

                             

 

"I thought I'd have to wait for you forever again," Merlin says.

"No such luck, my love." Arthur says.

 

HAPPY EVER AFTER.

 

And that's that. No more Christmases spent alone, in tears, in the cold, waiting, because these two deserve to be happy for once. At least this once, yeah?

 

AND THE REST IS HISTORY

 

                              ***HAPPY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!****

 

 

 

 

 

 


End file.
